Clare Reviews: Holiday in the Hamptons by Sarah Morgan

Title: Holiday in the Hamptons

Author: Sarah Morgan

Series: From Manhattan With Love #5

Format: E-Arc

Source: Received from the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review

Pages: 384

Rating: 5 stars

Blurb: Professional dog-walker Felicity Knight loves everything about New York...until her ex-husband starts working at her local vet clinic. She hasn't seen Seth Carlyle in ten years, but one glimpse of him--too gorgeous, and still too good for her--and Fliss's heart hurts like their whirlwind marriage ended yesterday. So when her grandmother in the Hamptons needs help for the summer, it seems the ideal way to escape her past.

Their relationship might have lasted only a few scorching months, but vet Seth knows Fliss--if she's run away to the Hamptons, it's because she still feels their connection and it terrifies her. He let her go once before, when he didn't know any better, but not this summer! With the help of his adorable dog, Lulu, and a sprinkling of beachside magic, Seth is determined to make Fliss see that he's never stopped loving her...

Sarah Morgan keeps getting better with each new release. Every time I think she has reached a peak (Miracle on 5th Avenue was basically perfect) she comes along and goes even better. 

Fliss and Seth were everything you could want in a leading couple. Sure they were flawed, they made mistakes, but that only made me root for them more. This was a book to get truly emotionally invested in. I laughed, I cried, there were toe-curlingly romantic moments. Essentially there was not one single page where I wasn't fully absorbed in every word. 

Fliss is, on the surface, a hard character to love. If only because she doesn't want you to love her. She has so many walls up and shows so little of herself to those around her, even her sister, that it took a good portion of the book to feel like I really knew her but that discovery process was wonderful. As someone who was once very much like her, my heart was alternately aching and soaring for her as the story progressed. Seth - well, he was just precious. He was flawed too, don't get me wrong, but he was so determined and loving and just present that I couldn't help falling in love with him and I totally believed in Fliss's love for him, and in his love for her.

As always in a Sarah Morgan novel the secondary characters are just as much of a delight. Harriet (who has to be the star of the next book right?) was so sweet but so fiercely loyal and there were some wonderful moments towards the end in which she stood up to Fliss and really showed how much she wanted to be there for her and stick her neck out for her. Chase and Matilda were adorable and Fliss and Harriet's grandmother was such fun and had so many good intentions. The story would have been so much different without these characters and having them added a lot of depth and character growth. 

Finishing Holiday in the Hamptons left me with a smile a mile wide on my face and I was so thrilled for how things turned out for the characters and how much resolution we got. Now I jut have to wait (ever so impatiently) for the next one. Which, in all likelihood, will be even better somehow and completely blow my mind. 

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